Do you have the strength to force me to join the Liangshan bandits?

Chapter 320 Pang Wanchun: It seems there's no one else besides me [1st update]

"What? The Holy Duke has died?"

Pang Wanchun could hardly believe his ears:

"not me!

"How could I possibly assassinate the Holy Duke?"

"I have been at Yuling Pass the whole time, never leaving its side. All the soldiers at Yuling Pass can testify to this!"

"right--"

Pang Qiuxia pushed off the ground with both feet, leaping up from the crowded throng like a rocket and shouting:

"We can all testify—"

"Your people are everywhere at Yuling Pass, making it impregnable and unbreakable. Can their testimonies be trusted?"

The young man in white robes shouted, his eyes bloodshot:
"A hundred paces and an arrow that can hit a willow leaf; a single arrow to the throat!"
"In the entire Jiangnan region, only you, 'Little Yang Youji,' have this ability. If it's not you, then who else could it be?"

A hundred paces, an arrow that hits the willow leaf; a single arrow that kills the throat?
Pang Wanchun was stunned: It seems like there's no one else besides me...

Looking across Jiangnan, there is no one who can shoot arrows better than him!
If it wasn't him who assassinated Fang La, then who was it?
"I--"

Pang Qiuxia pushed off the ground again with both feet, jumping up and peeking out from the crowd of soldiers:

"I can also hit a bullseye from a hundred paces away—"

Pang Qiuxia was seven feet tall, which is about 162 centimeters, not short, but she was surrounded by elite Imperial Guards.

She could only say one thing, and jump once:
"I can also kill with a single arrow—"

If a sentence is long, it needs to be divided into two parts.

"Don't talk nonsense!"

Pang Wanchun mocked her without hesitation:

"You're still a long way from being able to hit a bullseye from a hundred paces away and kill someone with a single arrow!"

"Humph!"

The young man in white robes didn't believe Pang Qiuxia could "shoot an arrow through a willow leaf from a hundred paces and kill with a single shot," so he just snorted coldly:
"Pang Wanchun, you admit it?"
"take away!"

Countless Imperial Guards pointed their spears at Pang Wanchun, forming dense circles like sunflowers!

Pang Wanchun was forced to walk forward with guns pointed at him, shouting to the young man in white as he went:

"Your Highness, although I am skilled at shooting an arrow from a hundred paces away and killing someone in one shot, I was not the one who killed the Holy Duke!"

"You've arrested the wrong person!"

Pang Qiuxia was pushed out of the crowd, and quickly jumped up and shouted:
"Fang Tianding—where are you taking my brother—?"

The young man in white robes was none other than Fang La's eldest son, Fang Tianding. Fang Tianding gazed at Pang Qiuxia in the crowd:
"I'll take him to the Emperor's coffin and have him explain things to the Emperor!"

A tall, eight-foot-tall general with no eyebrows and large eyes standing beside Fang Tianding asked:
"Your Highness, why not arrest Pang Qiuxia as well?"

Fang Tianding shook his head and turned to leave.

Another young general, who bore a striking resemblance to the eight-foot-tall, eyebrowless, and large-eyed general, quietly tugged at his sleeve.
"Brother, don't you know? His Highness has been pursuing Pang Qiuxia for a long time, and has not been able to win her heart..."

"Tianyou, are you telling the truth?"

The eight-foot-tall, eyebrowless, large-eyed general froze, glancing at Pang Qiuxia, who was walking in the opposite direction of the crowd:

"I see, never mind..."

However, he didn't believe Pang Qiuxia was involved in the assassination of Fang La, since even Fang Tianding was unwilling to arrest Pang Qiuxia...

What's with his enthusiasm?
……

Liangshan Park.

"The military examination has been postponed for a year?"

Upon hearing Shi Qian's report, Cai Fu chuckled.
"I didn't do anything, so why are you even stopping the martial arts examination?"

What haven't you done yet?
Shi Qian explained, "According to our people's inquiries, it's said that a martial arts candidate was involved in my brother's three disturbances in Tokyo. Therefore, the martial arts examination was postponed for a year, and all the candidates in the capital were detained for a full investigation..."

Good grief, it really is my fault?

Cai Fu scratched his head: "What about other places? Is there any other important intelligence?"

Shi Qian then reported: "Song Jiang sent four leaders, Li Ying, Du Xing, Song Qing, and Mu Hong, with a thousand henchmen to Qingfeng Mountain."

"It is said that Li Ying has already set up camp on Qingfeng Mountain and established a branch camp."

Ah Jiang, are you serious?

Cai Fu originally thought this was just a scheme by Song Jiang to seduce Tang Niu'er, but he never expected that they would actually open a branch camp.

According to Shi Qian's intelligence, Qingfeng Mountain also bears the sign of Liangshan Marsh...

Where did this chubby little guy learn this from? Does he also want to use the countryside to encircle the cities?
Shi Qianshuang reported: "Also, it is said that Li Jun, Tong Wei, and Tong Meng fell ill when they passed through Gunzhou and stayed there for treatment."

Later, Song Jiang sent people to fetch Li Jun, only to find that Li Jun, Tong Wei, and Tong Meng were not in Gunzhou.

"Li Jun, Tong Wei, and Tong Meng also did not go to Erlong Mountain to meet up with Song Jiang; their whereabouts are unknown."

"Is there such a thing?"

Cai Fu frowned. He didn't really care that Li Ying went to Qingfeng Mountain to open a branch camp, but Li Jun had disappeared...

Li Jun did something similar in the original novel, pretending to be sick, but ended up going to Siam with the "Four Heroes of Taihu Lake" and becoming the king.

Siam is the place that later became known for its demons.

Although it was just a small, remote country, Li Jun's choice was much smarter than Song Jiang's.

If Song Jiang had gone to sea when Liangshan was at its peak, he probably could have conquered the entire Southeast Asia.

However, that was after Li Jun got to know the "Four Heroes of Taihu Lake". He probably doesn't know them now.

So where will Li Jun go?

Cai Fu had no idea, but because of Li Jun's disappearance, he first drew a circle around the "Four Heroes of Taihu Lake".

That said, after Song Jiang left, Cai Fu went on a large-scale recruitment drive, significantly increasing his military strength.

Before they separated from Song Jiang, the total strength of Liangshan Marsh had reached more than 41,000 men.

Song Jiang took away 23,000 men, leaving 18,000 men at Liangshan.

After two months of recruiting soldiers, the total strength of Liangshan Marsh has increased to about 21,000 men.

Cai Fu consistently assigned professionals like Lu Zhishen, Suo Chao, Sun Li, Yang Zhi, Zhang Qing, and Xuan Zan to train his troops.

Lu Junyi, Wu Song, Liu Tang, and other qualified assistants followed along to learn, and then trained their own troops after mastering the skills.

In fact, Cai Fu knew that if a rebellion were to break out, the rebel army would grow like a snowball.

But those are just numbers that look good.

Take, for example, Tian Hu, who had the largest army among the four bandits, with more than 500,000 troops. But so what?
Most of them were untrained; they just picked up a wooden stick and went in, including the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled.

As a result, Song Jiang's 100,000 underlings, trained in the war against Liao, were able to wipe out three major bandit groups!

Those who survived countless battles were undoubtedly elite soldiers, but the foundation was built on these 21,000 men.

Cai Fu trained them all so that more people who followed him in the rebellion could survive in the future.

Fortunately, the main force was still the government troops, namely the surrendered soldiers transported by Zhang Shuye, Guan Sheng, and Zhang Qing.

Having a solid foundation makes training more efficient.

Just as Shi Qian was about to finish his report, a lowly henchman rushed in:
"Report—"

"Chief, a young lady has arrived at the Nanshan Hotel. She says she's an old friend of yours!"
"He comes from Jiangnan and has important business to discuss!"

Another old acquaintance?
Shi Xiu, standing to the side, looked at him strangely: "Master has quite a few old acquaintances..."

From Jiangnan?
Cai Fu's heart skipped a beat:
Shi Baocai came from Jiangnan, and now another one is here so soon, could it be...?

(End of this chapter)